{"id":90786,"date":"2023-12-28T15:18:46","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T15:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/dialed-in-lifelong-racer-brad-wheeler-ushers-in-new-era-at-montgomery-international-dragway\/"},"modified":"2024-01-20T23:50:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T23:50:33","slug":"dialed-in-lifelong-racer-brad-wheeler-ushers-in-new-era-at-montgomery-international-dragway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/dialed-in-lifelong-racer-brad-wheeler-ushers-in-new-era-at-montgomery-international-dragway\/","title":{"rendered":"DIALED IN: Lifelong Racer Brad Wheeler Ushers in New Era at Montgomery International Dragway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alabama\u2019s Montgomery International Dragway is a facility that\u2019s undergone a host of improvements in recent years, and brand-new track owner Brad Wheeler plans to continue making lots of updates to this quarter-mile facility located in the state\u2019s capital city.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Editor\u2019s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #185, the 30 Under 30 Issue, in Nov\/Dec of 2023.]<\/p>\n

Wheeler purchased this popular dragway from Glenn Smith on July 1, 2023, taking over as hands-on track manager later in the month. \u201cGlenn had already sunk a ton of money into the track with things like LED lights, new scoreboards, and a reconcreted racing surface, as well as the shop beside the tower that can house multiple race cars and equipment,\u201d says Wheeler.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Track owner\/manager, Brad Wheeler<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Soon after taking over, Wheeler added to the improvements by installing a brand-new Accutime Timing System and began a project of renovating the suites located in the tower. Wheeler\u2019s near-term plans include updating the pits. \u201cThis place was built in the mid-1990s, back when we had 24-foot enclosed trailers and a pick-up. These days we\u2019ve got 90 foot worth of rig to park, so the pit spots are a little short for today\u2019s rigs,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wheeler also wants to someday equip Montgomery\u2019s pits with showers and even a parts store as a convenience for the racers. \u201cI want to concentrate on making improvements that make it easier for the racers to race,\u201d he says. \u201cThey can choose anywhere they want to go race \u2013 I want to give them a reason to come here.\u201d There\u2019s also plans to install several lifts in the spacious shop in case a racer needed to lift a vehicle to put in a converter or perform other tasks. Therefore, Wheeler says he wants to offer a facility that will accommodate those needs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wheeler comes from a racing family and practically grew up at the track, racing at many facilities across his native Georgia and surrounding areas. As a racer, he developed a particular interest in the track he now owns. \u201cPrior to buying the track, I\u2019d race in just about every event they had here!\u201d he says. From his roots as a competitor, he brought with him the things that are important to racers, and in addition to convenience, he also has strong convictions about a guaranteed purse for all events he holds at Montgomery, and says he won\u2019t do a race without a guarantee in place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As with any new adventure, Wheeler says he\u2019s learning a lot about the \u201cother side\u201d of racing as a track owner. \u201cPrior to buying this place, all I ever did was go down it!\u201d he laughs. \u201cSure, it takes some of the fun out of racing, and I\u2019ve only gone down the track twice (three months after buying it) but I\u2019m enjoying the new experience. I knew that buying this track was gonna be a big animal, and it didn\u2019t disappoint!\u201d he laughs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And while his expectations lined up pretty closely with reality, the one thing that truly shocked him was just how much Alabama football affects his attendance. \u201cThey\u2019re ate up with football\u2026even on the high school level!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wheeler works through all the challenges and embraces the positive aspects of his location, namely the weather. Central Alabama is favorable for near year-round racing, with short and mild winters. \u201cWe\u2019re planning to do some more concrete work in December or early January and hope to hold our first bracket race in February,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wheeler also plans to embrace the diversity of all things drag racing, holding many events at Montgomery. \u201cWe want to have all kind of racing here, including Pro Mod, radial, small tire, and also grudge racing, since a lot of that goes on here in Alabama. I\u2019ve never been around a lot of this stuff, so it\u2019s a learning curve for me,\u201d he admits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wheeler says he\u2019s also not limiting the facility to just racing. \u201cWe want to do some concerts here as well,\u201d he notes. \u201cWe also host an event called Pik Nik\/Freak Nik, where people come in and bring their family and also bring their grills and have cooking competitions, along with cars and trucks on display. We hosted one of these events this year and we feel as though we have something to build on, so we\u2019ll probably do it again and throw in some racing with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wheeler also signed on with WDRA in 2023, and is gearing up for a big season in 2024. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna have the Bracket Finals here, along with the World Finals and also the Jr. Dragster Finals, so we\u2019re looking forward to a lot of great things happening here next season,\u201d Wheeler concludes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The post DIALED IN: Lifelong Racer Brad Wheeler Ushers in New Era at Montgomery International Dragway<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alabama\u2019s Montgomery International Dragway is a facility that\u2019s undergone a host of improvements in recent years, and brand-new track owner Brad Wheeler plans to continue making lots of updates to this quarter-mile facility located in the state\u2019s capital city.\u00a0 [Editor\u2019s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #185, the 30 Under 30 Issue, in Nov\/Dec […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,78117,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-race-pages","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91114,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90786\/revisions\/91114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}